Gateway 600L: As much firepower as can possibly be infused in a laptop
Written: Nov 16 '02
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Pros: Powerful, packed with features, huge screen, great value
Cons: Bigger and heavier than most, but that's expected of a desktop replacement
The Bottom Line: I'm confident that, barring any upcoming technological innovation, this laptop will give you three productive years of service. It is THAT powerful.
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| cerberus435's Full Review: Gateway 600XL PC Notebook |
The Gateway 600L is GW's latest offering in the desktop replacement category. It is the base model of the 600 series, which includes the 600X and the 600XL. My 600 came with these features:
Processor:
Intel Pentium 4 M @ 1.6 Ghz
400 Mhz Front Side Bus
Storage:
256MB SDRAM
512k L2 Cache
30 GB ATA Hard Drive
24x/8x/8x CDRW 8x DVD Combo Drive
3.5" Floppy Drive
Video:
15" LCD Display
64MB ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 GPU
Audio:
64-bit ESS Allegro Sound Card
Built-in microphone
Dual speakers
Networking:
56k Internal modem
RJ-11 Port for Broadband
802.11 Orinoco WiFi Wireless Modem
Ports:
2 USB 2.0
1 Parallel Port
1 Serial Port
1 P/S 2 Port
1 IEE 1394 Firewire Port
2 PCMCIA Slots
Power Supply:
AC Adaptor
Lithium Ion Battery ~ 3 hour charge
Operating System:
Microsoft Windows XP Home
MSRP: $1700
THE GOOD
Design
For the 600 series, Gateway decided to shun the traditional "black boxes" of the Solo to the Titanium case of Apple's laptop. The shell is indeed a shiny titanium while the inside is of a darker plastic. Sure it looks like an Apple, but it does look very pretty.
The angles are curved and not sharp. This gives the 600 a softer appearance from, say, the Inspiron series from Dell. It might not mean much, but it's pleasing to look at and healthy for your skin (I've managed to somehow scratch myself on the hard edges of my sister's old Thinkpad. Don't ask.)
Power
The Pentium 4 M Processor runs at lightning speed. Load times are short and video playback is smooth. The M, which stands for "Mobile," allows the processor to run at a reduced speed (1.2 GHz) when the laptop is unplugged. This conserves about 30 minutes of battery power.
Although the speed drops by 400 MHz, you could hardly notice the difference. I run lots of games, publishing, and graphics software and there is only a marginal difference between "optimal" mode and "conserve" mode. The P4 is indeed a powerful CPU and it should hold up to industry standards for a couple of years.
Graphics
Gateway nailed it when they chose to adopt the ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 as the standard Graphics Processor Unit. With up to 350 MHz clock speed and 64 MB of DDR Memory, the 7500 has enough punch to outshine most Desktop Displays.
The 15" display on the 600L is ordinary, but it looks great with the Radeon. I really wanted to get at least the 600X so I could utilize the mammoth 15.7" screen. I saw the large screen in action and it rocks! Not only does it look bigger, but the bigger LCD supports up to 1600 x 1200 (instead of 1200 x 1000 on the 15.") Only Sony's 16.1" high-end Vaio has a larger display, but who would want to shell out almost $3000 for it?
I tracked the FPS (frames per second) of Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (a highly graphic-intensive game) on the 600L and here are the results:
Display Mode / Frames per Second
640x480 @ 32 bit - 48 FPS
800x600 @ 32 bit - 42 FPS
1024x768 @ 32 bit - 36 FPS
These settings were for maximum graphics detail and the 600L running on optimal power (AC Adapter). As you can see, you get beautiful eye candy with smooth gameplay.
Features
All 600's come with extra features not found in almost any other notebook.
Orinoco WiFi Wireless Network Card - This device allows you to connect to the Internet using a broadband access point or another computer equipped with a wireless adaptor. This allows you to connect to the Internet on airports and other facilities equipped with such adaptors. This is a VERY COOL feature and it comes STANDARD on all 600's.
Audio DJ - With Audio DJ, you can turn your 600 into an oversized MP3/CD Player. Using the built-in VCR controls on the front of the laptop and programming the playlists onto a playlist software, you can listen to your music while the laptop is off. This allows only the necessary components to stay on and conserve your battery. I was able to get almost 6 hours of continuous play.
THE BAD
Video Drivers
This problem is only apparent if you want to play games on your laptop. I like to play a lot of driving, sports, and first person shooter games. The ones that I play on this laptop are Operation: Flashpoint, Jedi Outcast, and Soldier of Fortune 2.
Anyway, the bundled ATI/Gateway drivers are faulty for running games. Everytime I run a graphic-intensive game or a DVD, the computer blue-screen crashes (otherwise known as BSOD, or blue screen of death) after a few minutes of play. I tried downloading Service Pack 1, but that only exacerbated the problem. I downloaded some alternate drivers, but more of the same.
So far, I've alleviated this issue somewhat by downloading a driver called "ATI Plutonium V.1.18." This driver was designed by gamers and is built for stable 3D gaming. After installing the driver, I still get a BSOD here and there, but the crashing mostly stopped after underclocking the video memory and graphic processor cycles by % (using the clocking utility that comes with the drivers.)
However, this is a quirky solution to the problem, and I'm sure XP is to blame for this. I've tried this under Windows 98, and the tried and true formula always works.
The aforementioned problem may or may not affect you, based on how you will use your Gateway. Gamers, I recommend you download the above driver or run a dual boot configuration with Windows 98 as your master OS. Home office/Media users, stick with XP. Although it is still unreliable as a gaming platform, it is a very useful platform for everything else (read my review on "WinXP as a Home Business Tool" to find out.)
If any of you experienced users have any suggestions on how to completely eliminate the BSOD problem while maintaining maximum graphic performance, please post your thoughts. I would appreciate it.
THE UGLY
Weight
When you go to the Gateway website, it tells you that the weight of the 600X is 8.75 lbs (with the media bays filled.) If you carry the adapter, a mouse, a pair of speakers, and some storage media like I do, you can expect a sore back or shoulder.
It's not surprising that this desktop replacement is heavy, but the fact that its width is 18" is somewhat too generous. If you are looking for something that won't put stress on your muscles, look elsewhere. The 600 is very heavy. If you wish to carry this with you everywhere you go, I recommend you buy a backpack instead. Putting this and its accessories on a sling case will only kill your shoulders.
Alas, the price you pay for increased performance.
Touchpoint
There is plenty of room between the spacebar key and the bottom edge of the laptop. The touchpoint that occupies that space in between is too small. The area that detects your finger's movement is so restricted that you end up lifting your finger more than in most other laptops.
Also, the laptop will register clicks if you are using it in a shaky environment (such as inside a train or an SUV.) It becomes very annoying when you're typing a Word document and the touchpad inadvertantly selects a group of your text and you accidentally delete and type over it. Gateway supplies a controller software that suppresses these "taps," but it's still not very helpful.
I recommend you use a mouse or trackball as much as possible.
Speaker Location
Gateway puzzled me with this one. For some reason, the speakers are located underneath where you would rest your wrists. Sounds coming out of the speaker get muffled this way.
Again, the easy solution is to plug in speakers.
Noise and Vibrations
With all the high-performance parts installed in this machine, I was not surprised to find my laptop sometimes immitating a hummingbird. The source of the vibrations come from the CD/DVD ROM. When you do some fast burns or heavy disc access with it (like play media off of it) the CD drive will sometimes vibrate excessively.
That's because the gap between the drive case and the laptop is distinct. Small, but distinct enough to cause those annoying vibrations. Had the design been tighter, this would eliminate the vibrations.
Nevertheless, I minimize this by putting masking tape over the drive.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, most of the flaws on the Gateway 600L are physical. If you can live with the uglies or get around them, you will be treated to a laptop that offers awesome power at a sensible price. You might even find one around the price that I paid ($1100)! Of course, I bought this new from someone else without a warranty. I don't need the warranty since I can fix or work around my own problems, but I've tried their technical support and they are quick (though somewhat inaccurate in their troubleshooting.)
You can find other good ones on online shops or Ebay. Gateway retails them between $1600 to $2500.
I'm confident this laptop will take you for a good three years. Until the micron processing technology discovers a huge leap, I don't foresee any future innovations that would stunt my predicted three year productivity of this laptop.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1100
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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cerberus435
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